Netflix acquiring Warner Bros & HBO Max

[joey_jo_jo]

Whether Netflix or Paramount buys Warner Bros., entertainment oligopolies are back – bigger and more anticompetitive than ever

Hollywood has seen this movie before.

theconversation.com

 

[SM]

The problem with the big five film studios and I’ll add Netflix to that as well, is for the most part they are no longer pushing boundaries per se as they are catering to a society that they don’t want to offend. So the movies they make are basically the same movie. As they are mainly comic book movies. Disney/Marvel. Sony Spider-Man. Warner Bros DC. Book series that were successful. Warner Bros Harry Potter. Lions Gate (Not a big 5) Hunger Games. Sony Jason Bourne. Or they make remakes of other successful movies or tv series. Think Mission Impossible, Charlie’s Angels, Oceans 11, The A Team, Get Smart ect.

It’s hard to think of films like Pulp Fiction, Falling Down, American History X, Donnie Darko, The Blair Witch, Mad Max, let alone a film like a Clockwork Orange would get made in today’s environment. A huge part of that is people wanting to be offended by everything, rather than enjoying the story being told, or understanding the movies message. So the studios avoid anything that could cause controversy. Where as in the past, there were more independent studios that would take that risk. There was also the security of video, DVD and Blu Ray sales and rentals, where they could recover costs if need be. So there was more room to take risks.

With Disney no longer distributing physical media in Australia, along with other countries, Netflix very rarely distributes physical media, as both companies are trying to monopolise the streaming market, by having exclusive content. So with Netflix buying out HBO, I can envision that HBO content also being made unavailable in physical form, forcing people to subscribe to their streaming service, to watch their programming.

So with mostly inferior content being made, with the odd “must watch” and the feeling of being forced to subscribe to their streaming service, is not a good thing, as it limits people’s choices of peoples viewing choices. $15-$30 a month for 1 service, where you are only renting what you watch, is borderline totalitarian.

Wake Up Dead Man literally just came out.

 

[Sketi]

What does this mean for The Batman: Part 2?

All the the current slated Warner Bros films will be rolled out theatrically as planned, according to Netflix.

The biggest change we are likely to see in the medium term is just some shorter windows before the movies hit streaming.

 

[Sketi]

Sadly I'm not sure Paramount is better, owned as it is by the Ellisons with Jared Kushner as a co-funder. Given stories about them personally making movies at Trump's behest (thankfully Rush Hour 4, but that's not necessarily where it will end) and that they're blacklisting every actor who's spoken out for Palestine, I don't think they should be owning 25% of Hollywood production.

There's not really a good outcome here, unfortunately!

It's a great point you raise SN. Things really are cooked either way.

Upon learning more about Trump and the Saudi's etc all backing Paramount, I've flipped somewhat to Netflix actually being a preferable option. At least they have been known to back filmmakers with little to no intervention.

I keep going back to my original hope:

• Horror remains a big box office draw and will keep getting made.
• Independent cinema that operates out of the big studios will keep getting made.

On a purely selfish level, these are my favourites types of movies.

It's all far from ideal, but as Schrader / joey_jo_jo point out: art mutates with technology.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Good interview with Liz Warren, basically saying both options are anti-competitive

 

[happy_eagle]